Exclaves in Switzerland (Minisode)

A very personal episode of 80 Days, marking the close of the Swiss chapter of my life. I’ll always have fond memories of the quirky aspects of Switzerland, but it’s definitely time to move home.

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In this minisode, Joe explores, literally, the idea of an exclave after wandering into one a couple of years ago. Although we’ve covered a couple of enclaves in the past (including San Marino and The Gambia), this episode is the first time we’ve examined the opposite concept – a tiny piece of a country marooned inside another’s borders.

This is also something of a personal episode for Joe (@anbeirneach), as it marks an end to his time living in Switzerland. Luke (@thelukejkelly) and Mark (@markboyle86) also feature, and we discuss briefly our upcoming fourth season, which is due in a couple of weeks.

For the curious, you can find more on the German enclave of Büsingen am Hochrhein here on Atlas Obscura, or read this article on BigThink. The New York Times article quoted in the episode can be found here

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80 Days featured on Broadsheet.ie

Irish “news source for the bemused” Broadsheet.ie has given a plug to our podcast 80 Days, which – I think – means we’ve definitely made it! I’m a big fan of Broadsheet’s mixture of hard-hitting corruption exposés, parish bulletin-board style notices about lost bikes and things involving Irish people all over the world. It makes for the ideal combination of news and humour for my generation.

Their article focusses on the fact that Luke, Mark and I are all Irish men abroad, using this medium to explore the world and maintain connections around it. I think (and hope) our project will resonate with a lot of people. You can read it by clicking on this link.

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S1E06: Liberia

This is probably the darkest history we’ve researched while doing “80 Days”, including civil war, cannibalism and the Ebola epidemic, but still makes for a fascinating listen in spite of that.

80 Days

Audio: S1E06 Liberia

This week in 80 Days, we looked at Liberia, a small country on the west coast of Africa. Founded by freed American and Caribbean slaves, Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic and takes its name from the the Latin phrase meaning “Land of the Free.” Unfortunately, the country is best known for a long and bloody civil war that look place in the 1990s and 2000s, and more recently for the Ebola epidemic of 2014. The lush, rainforested country is just 700 kilometres or 430 miles north of the equator, and is bordered by Sierra Leone to its west, Guinea to its north and Ivory Coast (Côte d’Ivoire) to its east. Today, the country is home to around 4.5 million inhabitants, although most are native Africans rather than the descendants of freed slaves. It maintains strong ties to America, and even has…

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S1E01: Namibia

The first episode of my new podcast with Luke and Mark. A particular highlight of researching Namibia for me was the role the Garda Síochána played in helping the transition to democracy.

80 Days

Audio: S1E01 Namibia
In this week’s first episode of 80 Days, we are talking about Namibia, a large African nation, sharing its southern border with South Africa and with an Atlantic coastline of almost 1,000 miles, known as the ‘Skeleton Coast’. Major features include the Namib Desert, considered to be the oldest desert in the world and the famous Fish River Canyon. The country is roughly similar in size to Pakistan bigger than France or Germany and one of the driest places on earth. Its history includes colonisation by Germany and South Africa, with independence coming in the 1990s. Today it is a stable and developing young democracy. Your hosts are Luke Kelly @thelukejkelly, Mark Boyle @markboyle86 and Joe Byrne @anbeirneach, in Hong Kong, the UK and Ireland, respectively. (Music by Thomas O’Boyle)